The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday are always on the look out for new villains, and this time it’s not illegal immigrants or teenage mothers. No, Stephen Womack in the Financial Mail on Sunday has discovered the crooks that stage car crashes – the car crash bandit. The fraudsters pin the blame on the innocent driver so they can submit a bogus claim against the victim’s insurer for up to £30,000.
Usually staged on motorway slip roads and roundabouts, the car in front brakes hard, sometimes after a second car veers into its path, forcing you to crash into the back of it. The crooks will claim for damage to the car and the cost of a replacement vehicle, often inflating the claim in several ways.
The car might be carrying several passengers, all of whom will claim for personal injuries and loss of earnings. Some gangs even own accident repair garages and car-hire firms. There are apparently 10,000 staged crashes a year, costing the insurance industry up to £200 million. You have been warned!